As Senate appropriators draft their fiscal year (FY) 2027 funding bill for education and workforce development programs, community college advocates are urging them to review the House’s appropriations bill and “retain the positive aspects,” while “rejecting the deep cuts that bill made to many programs that directly impact community college students.”
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) on Friday sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee overseeing funding for education and job training programs, noting that shoring up the Pell Grant shortfall is a top priority. They pointed out shortcomings of a House plan to address the gap.
“The House committee-approved FY 27 LHHS-ED appropriations bill provided $16.3 billion of ‘mandatory for discretionary’ funding that would address the shortfall through FY 27 only. Not only is this a temporary ‘fix,’ it is paid for by permanently ending subsidized Direct Loans for undergraduate students,” the letter said.
AACC and ACCT want Congress to provide sufficient resources to close the gap in FY 27 and succeeding years.
“Addressing the shortfall in this way requires a sufficiently increased 302(b) allocation for the LHHS-ED subcommittee. We call on the committee to provide such an allocation. The president’s request of $10.5 billion in appropriations to close the shortfall gap is a welcome step in advancing this essential policy,” the letter said.
Other funding priorities
AACC and ACCT are also asking Senate appropriators to increase funding for the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant by $10 million, to $75 million, following the House bill. Funding for the Department of Labor program has been set at $65 million for three years.
The associations also would like the Senate to follow the House bill in increasing funding for the Higher Education Act Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP, Title III-A), which helps “community colleges and other institutions serve low-income students by providing funds to improve academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability.” The $10 million increase in the House bill is important for two reasons: First, it partially restores cuts made in recent years. Second, the Trump administration is again likely to award funding to Title III and V programs through a “super-sized” SIP competition.
AACC and ACCT also said they support the House bill’s increases to TRIO, GEAR UP, Perkins Career and Technical Education, and apprenticeships, and the bill’s protection of Child Care Access Means Parents in School and Postsecondary Student Success Grants. They also back the House’s language that directs the administration to retain the traditional core features of the TRIO programs and requires the Education Department to count advanced nursing programs as “professional” degrees.
Reject funding cuts
AACC and ACCT also asked Senate appropriators to reject the House bill’s deep cuts and program eliminations, and to at least level fund programs such as for Adult Basic Education, Strengthening Educational Opportunity Grants, Federal Work Study and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act formula programs.
